There were over 10,000 rioters involved. First, the court house in Situbondo was burned by a mob angry because a high school kid. Saleh, who said in a speech that Muhammad was not the messenger of God, was going to be sentenced to only five years in prison for blasphemy instead of given the death penalty. Within five hours 21 churches, five christian schools, and an orphanage were destroyed along with some stores in a plaza and a few vehicles. Five Christians were dead, one was a woman who was physically handicapped.
The following is from the Jakarta Post the past two days. This is not being held back from the people as expected.
Headline: Gus Dur begs forgiveness for raids on churches The Jakarta Post, Monday, reported that Mr. Abdurrahman Wahid, the chairman of the Nahdlatul Ulama, asked for the nation's forgiveness for the attacks on the churches which were perpetrated mostly by members of the NU. Abdurrahman, better known as Gus Dur was quoted as saying, "I bow my head and ask for forgiveness for the loss inflicted on the government and the public. My deepest condolences for those who died and were wounded in the incident."
Headline: Religious leaders denounce attacks on churches The Jakarta Post, Tuesday, "the Indonesian Council of Ulemas (MUI) denounced the attacks perpetrated by angry mobs... saying that Islam does not condone inter-faith enmity." "The chairman of the council of ulemas, Hasan Basri, called on all religious groups, especially Moslems (why the Jakarta Post uses that spelling is beyond me...) to be wary of the campaigns of 'certain parties' to divide the country. Prophet Muhammad forbade Moslems from committing violence, killing monks, women and children, or burning houses of worship, even during wars." Hasan said.
I quoted the above to let you know that this kind of unprecedented acknowlegement of wrong doing is amazing, and Christians are surprised to hear Islamic leaders going this far. HOWEVER, where the pressure needs to be applied is to the government, which MUST PUBLICLY CONDEMN the burning of churches and persecution of Christians by Muslims.
Those responsible must be arrested, prosecuted, and punished to the SAME EXTENT as the members of the PRD party who are being prosecuted for the riots in Jakarta in July which also resulted in loss of life and property. If the leaders of the PRD are being accused of "treason" which is punishable by death, then also those responsible for this riot must be charged with treason (notice the reference by Hasan above to 'certain parties' who want to divide the country, un-named of course).
Important questions: How is it that churches in both Surabaya (earlier in June) and Situbondo were all attacked at almost the same time by various sized groups of rioters in all those different widespread places? There is no doubt a conspiracy here, and the question that follows is, "Who has enough authority in the lives of 10,000 Muslims to organize such widespread violence?"
Last of all, I just wanted to say that these events are marvelous opportunities for Indonesia to progress, if the government will just do what is right. However, I fear that it is unlikely that any real change will occur without a great deal of external pressure from the human rights groups and from other governments. Indonesia is so very sensitive to that kind of pressure.
Add all this it Pres. Clinton's "Asiagate", the Nobel prize going to Mr. Horta, the 'national car" scandal, the Megawati ousting and riots, and a dozen other internal and external problems, and you have a major political crisis brewing. My hope and prayer is that in it all, there will soon come a day when the majority of Muslims in Indonesia will truly submit to the will of God. In that day, Indonesia will be well on its way to becoming the country that Sukarno and Soeharto and a million others have dreamed of.
http://www.domini.org/openbook/indon3.htm
Relgion of Peace Alert!
Islam is as Islam does...
Where is East Java ?
Please don't say "Next to West Java" ;-)